


wasted love

by antoniohiggins



Series: tumblr requests (newsies) [4]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: (kinda but not with anything major), Drinking, Drinking to Cope, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, First Kisses, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, aka my favorite headcannon, dancer!race, he's worse than romeo, race is annoying but also adorable, race is such a flirty drunk, spot is annoyed but he's also smitten, spot is trying not to literally explode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-25 09:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13831533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antoniohiggins/pseuds/antoniohiggins
Summary: (im a minor why are all of my fics about drinking??)basically race has had a rough week so spot takes him out to a party with all their friends, but race decides not to cooperate and gets himself shitfaced so spot has to take him homelow-key college au and high-key gaythis wasn't supposed to have suc a storyline but it did whoops





	wasted love

College parties served two purposes: getting shitfaced after exam week, and holding up some fake image that you have a social life.

Spot definitely preferred the former, constantly claiming that he didn’t care if he never met anyone else because the friends he had were enough to handle on their own. Race, on the other hand, hated getting shitfaced if it wasn’t for a good reason, which included parties. He tended to save that for when he was just with his friends and far, far away from any strangers.

Too many unwanted touches and comments will do that to a person.  
Anyway, they tried to stick to their respective rules when it came to going out with their friends. Sure, some called them ‘boring’, but they had a pretty solid system going and it wasn’t like they were going to stop anytime soon.

Or so they thought.

For Race, audition week was finally over and, after making it through both rounds of callbacks, he was anxiously awaiting the news on his position and endlessly pacing back and forth in his and Spot’s dorm.

“C’mon, you can’t keep doin’ this,” Spot groaned, returning back from class to Race endlessly refreshing his email inbox once again. “I swear, if I come back to you with this open one more time I’m confiscating it from you until they actually send out the news. It ain’t good for you, Racer.”

The boy whined, but shut his laptop nonetheless, tossing it onto his bed. He propped himself onto his desk, letting his legs dangle off the edge and spinning his chair around with his feet.

“You should come wit’ me tonight,” Spot spoke up, untying his shoes and tossing them across the room to the door. “I know you’s had a long week, but I the guys have hardly seen ya’ all week. B’sides, we ain’t even had a proper conversation about anythin’ but me forcin’ ya’ to eat and drink somethin’.”

“Spotty, the last thing I wanna’ do tonight is get drunk for no reason,” Race chuckled, slipping off his dance slippers as well and chucking them at the door with just as much gusto.

“Show off,” Spot scoffed as Race wiggled his eyebrows. “I’s serious though, you deserve a little celebration after all a’ this.”

Race sighed, pulling his phone out of his pocket and glancing at the time.

“When is it?” He mumbled, surprising his friend.

“Three hours I think,” Spot guessed as Race hopped off of his desk.

“Okay fine, as long as I can spend the next two n’ a half hours takin’ a nap,” he chuckled, diving face-first into his pillow.

* * *

 

Three hours later meant Spot was dragging Race down the hall to the elevator as the two packed into Spot’s truck. Race took his usual position of propping his feet up on the dashboard as he hummed along to the old rock song that he only knew because of how much time he spent in Spot’s car.

As they stopped at a red light, Race took his eyes away from refreshing his email on his phone and lifted them to Spot in the driver's seat beside him. He looked nice. He had been doing that a lot during the past few weeks, putting more effort into his appearance than usual, not that Race was complaining.

He didn’t need it though, as much as Race loved his new, more composed look. For an arrogant asshole, he sure was easy on the eyes, and Race knew that better than anyone. He let a small smile creep it’s way into his face as he watched the car’s air conditioning blow one little wave out of place from Spot’s neatly gelled hair. 

“You sure I can’t get outta’ this?” Race smirked, looking up at Spot from his slouched position as the latter rolled his eyes.

“Obviously you ain’t gotta’ go,” he sighed. “But ya’ know I would ask ya’ to go if I didn’t think it would be good for ya’.”

Race groaned, sliding his feet off the dashboard to tap them along to the beat of the song on the floorboards.

“Worth a shot,” he admitted, earning a gruff chuckle from Spot.

They pulled into the parking lot of a way-too-hipster bar, clearly just trying to appeal to the nearby college full of millennial hipsters, and were quickly greeted by about a dozen of their friends excitedly waving them over to a crowded table in the corner. Race practically dragged his feet as he followed Spot over to the table, keeping a smile on his face nonetheless and waving to his friends.

“Spot I see you were finally able to drag this asshole out a’ your room after a week of ignorin’ his friends,” Jack teased, gesturing at Race with his sloshing beer glass. The boy glared back, sliding into an empty stool across the table as Spot stood beside him, leaning an arm on his shoulder.

Race blushed, despite trying to keep his displeasure about the outing as obvious as possible. Spot just had that kind of effect on him.

He let himself relax into the boy’s touch, adding comments into the group’s conversation occasionally, but mostly staring at the drinks he kept downing to busy himself. The only thought circling his mind was

“Racer,” Spot spoke softly, just loud enough so that the boy could hear over the many conversations around him. “Please tell me you’re downing drinks faster than Romeo because you’re actually having a good time, not because you’re miserable.”

Race chuckled dryly, lifting his drink to his lips one last time and leaning fully against Spot as he slammed the empty glass back onto the table.

“Well, Spotty,” Race slurred, gazing up at his frustrated friend. “Seeing as my entire career is currently one email away from falling apart, I ain’t really in the best mood, n’ this is pro’lly the only way I’s gonna get through tonight.”

Spot sighed, standing up and taking the other’s arm, leading Race outside. The two stood just out of sight of the rest of their friends and the raging crowd inside as Spot kept a comfortable hold on the boy just in case anything were to happen.

“C’mere,” he started, sliding a hand around Race as the boy complied, leaning off the wall and following Spot’s lead. “I ain’t gonna’ make you stay ‘ere, I jus’ thought you’s could use some time out.”

Race nodded, not fully processing what he had said, but he was glad he was leaving. He took one long swig from his beer bottle before Spot grabbed it out of his hands and tossed it into a trashcan on the way to the parking lot.

“My hero,” Race grumbled, shoving Spot lightly as the other blushed. He was glad for once that Race likely wouldn’t remember enough of that night to hold it past him the next day.

“Yeah, yeah, just get in the car, princess,” he groaned, opening the door as Race stumbled and practically crawled into the passenger seat. He took his own seat on the other side of the truck, pulling away from the parking lot and taking off down the streets. Traffic in the city on a Friday evening was as crowded as expected, meaning for a drive that usually took them fifteen minutes, they were only halfway home and it had almost been half an hour.

Spot kept his eyes out the window, people watching when they weren’t moving and trying to be as nonchalant as possible as his drunk best friend held his free hand in the passenger seat. He couldn’t deny that his whole face was searing, but part of him didn’t want it to stop. The moment Race took his hand, he never expected him to be so gently and just…hold it. But Race was drunk and he most definitely didn’t think of it the same way Spot did.

So he kept his eyes on the road until he felt a certain pair of blue eyes boring into the side of his face.

“What?” He mumbled, turning to the side to find Race staring back at him with an almost expressionless face.

“Nothin’, I jus’ like lookin’ at you s’all,” he spoke as if the words didn’t make Spot’s head spin.

But he settled for a casual chuckle and an eye roll, pretending not to care as Race leaned against his arm, curling around him like a koala.

“You’s an idiot, ya’ know that? I’m tryin’ ta’ drive, Tony,” Spot smiled, making sure not to let the other see.

“ **I may be an idiot, but I’m your idiot**.”

Spot couldn’t speak. He kept telling himself to pull it together, that nothing Race was going to say would mean anything, but he couldn’t.

“Yeah,” he settled for. “Yeah you are.”

And that seemed to keep him quiet for a while. The boys spent the rest of the drive in silence, Spot paying attention to the road as Race, unbeknown to Spot, fell asleep comfortably curled around his arm. Their dorm building had a parking lot not too far from the entrance and, as Spot pulled into his usual parking space, he moved to get out of the car, freezing as Race stayed exactly as he was.

“Goddammit.” He grumbled, leaning over to check that, yes Race was indeed fast asleep in the passenger seat. Still, he couldn’t help but smile fondly, brushing the boy’s curls out of his face as he carefully slid his arm out of the Race’s grasp. He shut the driver’s side door as quietly as possible, circling around to open the passenger side, and scooping up the other into his arms.

Race stirred as Spot kicked the door shut behind them, heading for the entrance to their building.

“You awake? Good, if you was Jack you still be locked in tha’ car,” Spot teased, nudging open the door and heading to the elevator.

Race chuckled drowsily but stopped abruptly grabbing tightly onto Spot.

“Wait please don’t leave me behind,” he whined, blinking through tired, red eyes as he looked at Spot with irrationally terrified eyes.

Spot just chuckled, nudging for Race to push the elevator button.

“Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna’ leave ya’ just ‘cause you’s annoying.”

“Mhm,” Race mumbled, leaning into Spot’s shoulder as the boy held tightly to his legs, switching their position to a backwards piggyback.

As they got to their dorm room, Spot opened it easily, walking Race over to his bed and made a show of laying him down as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Race giggled wildly as if it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen as Spot groaned dramatically.

“Sleep, Racer,” Spot directed, flipping off the light switch as the boy yawned. He grabbed a water bottle out of their shared mini-fridge and fished through his backpack for a bottle of Advil before setting both on Race’s bedside table for the inevitable hangover the next morning. “You better not be complainin' about a hangover t'morrow 'cause it's all ya' damn fault."

As Spot took one last glance over at the now-occupied bed across from his own, he could hear the boy's soft snoring and smiled a little to himself, hopping into his own bed and pulling out his laptop. It was still an hour or two before he usually ended up sleeping so a movie to pass the time would have to suffice. He pulled out a pair of headphones and plugged them in, propping up his pillows behind him and getting comfortable. His phone buzzed in his pocket as he was about to hit play and he quickly took it out of his pocket and read through the messages from his friends. 

_Jackass: hey the rest of the guys just got their emails  
_

_Jackass: they're bummed but race will probably still want to know  
_

_Jackass: he will literally kill you if you don't tell him  
_

Spot groaned, knowing he was right, but honestly, he knew this was the most important thing in Race's career right now and part of him wanted to try and make this the least disappointing as he possible. Even though the rest of the guys in their friend group that were in Race's dance program didn't make it past the last round, he had no idea if Race would, but if he didn't he wanted to avoid the boy being heartbroken if possible.  
He grabbed Race's phone off the bedside table and typed in the password he knew as well as his own and opened up the boy's one unread email. Spot scrolled down, skipping through the generalized assessment of the boy's auditions before he saw one word the changed everything. 

_Congratulations_. 

He couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he read. Race, his best friend, beat out a couple dozen other older guys with more experience and significant advantage, but he did it. He did it and Spot was more proud than he had ever felt. 

Spot crossed their small shared room and lightly nudged the other boy, then more roughly, until eventually, he woke up, groaning and grabbing at Spot. He looked up at Spot with tired doe eyes and smiled at the fact that the usually-emotionless boy was doing the same. 

"You're in a good mood," Race teased as he rubbed his eyes, sitting up as Spot sat down on the side of his bed. 

He just smiled to himself and nodded, yawning slightly as he pulled out Race's phone. The boy giggled at the yawn, reminding Spot that he was indeed still drunk, but he brushed it off and started talking. Race, however, was not paying attention as he just stared straight into the other's eyes. 

"Tony, you still wit' me?" Spot chuckled as the boy blushed, looking away nervously. 

"Sorry," he spoke, a hint of flirtatiousness in his voice that made Spot's head spin. " **I keep getting lost in your eyes**."

"Okay maybe this was a bad idea," Spot sighed, starting to stand up as Race grabbed him by the shoulders and hug-dragged him down to lay beside him. "Wow, somebody's eager."

Race just laughed, as he seemed to keep doing endlessly, but Spot would never complain. He loved Race's laugh more than any other sound in the world if he felt like being a sap about it. 

"Please jus' tell me," Race whined, making the other cave instantly.

"Fine, even though I know I's just gonna' have ta' tell ya' again tomorrow," He started, glancing down at Race's hand that had found its way to his own, holding it tightly. "You got in, Tony. You got the part."

Race just nodded calmly and leaned into Spot’s chest. 

“Cool,” he mumbled simply before closing his eyes and going back to sleep. 

Spot chuckled, trying not to vocalize all of the insane thoughts swirling through his head. The feeling of Race’s hand clutching his own and his soft snores tickling his neck as his soft curls brushed his cheek. All the things he never knew he’d be able to experience, yet there they were. It took everything he had not to act on any of the things he wanted so badly, opting to curl up beside the boy and pushing the thought of kissing his perfectly parted lips to the back of his head. 

They woke up the next morning comfortably tangled up in each other like two puzzle pieces slotted together perfectly. 

Spot was the first to wake up, freezing for a moment as he felt a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. Right. Race.  
He nudged the other boy, smiling a little as a small yawn escaped his lips. Race rubbed his eyes before burying his face back into the crook of Spot’s neck, stopping just like the other had, and staring wide-eyed up at the boy beside him. 

“Oh, hi,” he mumbled awkwardly, his voice groggy and raw as he chuckled softly, rubbing his head and groaning immediately afterwards. “Fuck, last night actually happened.”

Spot carefully climbed out of bed, grabbing the water bottle and Advil and passing them over to Race who dramatically thanked him. 

“My hero,” he mumbled, casting both aside when he was done, both of them still not daring to mention anything that circled both of their minds. 

“Right.”

Race sighed, sitting up against the wall and pulling his comforter around his shoulders. 

“Listen, I dunno’ most a’ what I did last night, but thanks for putting up wit’ me n’ for gettin’ me home n’ all that,” he smiled, only meeting Spot’s eyes for a second before looking back down at his hands. He seemed to realize something before glancing around him. 

“Oh, uh, no problem,” Spot mumbled, trying to regain his attention as he reached for Race’s phone in his pocket. “Hey, so I’s actually got a little surprise for ya’.”

Race brightened at the mention of a surprise, pushing away anything he was previously thinking about as he gazed up at Spot, now standing, with tired red eyes and matching freckled cheeks. 

“Right, so try not ta’ scream ‘cause I’s too tired for loud noises,” he started, earning a soft chuckle out of Race. “But last night after ya’ fell asleep ya’ got an email.”

Race’s eager expression paled and his jaw went slack, parting his lips slightly as he watched Spot take his phone out of his pocket and unlock it. 

“Spot, I-“

“Mr. Antonio Higgins,” he spoke, beaming as Race tried to interject, climbing out from his blanket bundle and standing up off the bed. “We are eager to offer you a position in our production and we hope to see you at our first _official cast rehearsal_ next Friday at eight.”

Spot finished, tucking Race’s phone back into his pocket as the slightly taller boy stood in front of him, shaking like a leaf. He couldn’t shake his proud smile, reaching out to run his hands down Race’s arms before grabbing both of his hands. 

“Tony, you did it,” the other choked out a watery laugh, tears spilling out from the corners of his eyes as he squeezed Spot’s hands tightly before throwing his arms around the other. “I’s so proud a’ you.”

Race just cried into Spot’s shoulder, the other reciprocating the hug quickly and holding his arms around the boy’s small waist until he could spin him around in wobbly circles. Race shrieked, clutching the back of Spot’s shirt and lifting his legs higher off the ground as he laughed, his tears quickly being replaced by uncontrollable laughter. 

“Oh shit, I’s gotta’ tell the others,” Race exhaled, out of breath from laughing so heartily. 

Spot nodded, releasing him as they both stumbled for a moment before each smiling at the other. 

“Yeah, lets go,” Spot grinned, holding out a hand that Race slipped his own into as if it were nothing. They walked down the halls each thinking about nothing else but the other’s hand in their own. The other people in the halls of their dorm building meant nothing as they headed downstairs and across the campus to the street, walking a block away to Sarah and Katherine’s apartment; the go-to place for their friends to crash after a party. They figured they had the best chance of finding most of them there. 

And they were right. A barely-awake Katherine opened the door, but said nothing as she stepped aside, closing the door behind the two boys. 

“Morning lovebirds,” she grumbled, glancing at their still-intertwined hands before ducking into the living room. Spot immediately slipped his hand away from Race’s but before he knew it, the other boy linked his pinky finger with Spot’s and they kept going. Even Spot couldn’t deny the smile that crept onto his face.  
Throughout the girls’ living room was about five makeshift beds with one of their friends in each, not to mention people on the couches and armchairs. 

“Jesus,” Spot exhaled, earning a soft chuckle from Race. 

“Yeah, good thing I’s got you,” he gushed nudging the other playfully. 

Spot felt his heart, in the least cheesy way possible, skip about ten beats. He took Race, pinkies intertwined, over to the fire escape and they climbed out the window. 

“I can’t keep this from ya’,” Spot started, a painful sadness in his voice as the city buzzed with noise around them. Race nodded, keeping his gaze on their hands. 

“Me neither,” the other replied, surprising Spot only slightly. He took in a shaky breath and continued. “I really like you’s, Spotty. Like, as more than what we is now.”

Spot froze silent for a moment before a weak laugh escaped his lips. 

“What are you, ten?” He teased, relaxing as he saw Race’s terrified expression do the same. “No, I can’t do that right now. I...I like you’s too. I have for a long time, I guess.”

Race’s smile was bright enough to blind any of the half-awake and disoriented drunks inside. Spot looked up from their hands and when their eyes met he could only think one thing.

_This is the boy that likes me. This perfect boy._

“Well, come ‘ere then,” he teased as Race sat down beside him on the windowsill. He traced his hands along the sharp curve of Race’s jaw and before either of them knew it, their lips met and everything falls into place. They couldn’t tell you how long that lasted, but eventually Katherine walked back into the room and they broke apart instantly. 

“Hey come on, this isn’t a hotel guys, oh-!”

Race went tumbling backwards through the window and as he harshly hit the floor, a room full of boys and two girls all turned their attention to him.

“Ugh, finally,” Jack mused from his place on the couch, scrolling through his phone unimpressed. “If you were going ta’ wake everyone up, at least you’s won’t be pining anymore.”

Spot climbed through the window, extending a hand to Race as he helped the latter to his feet. Both of their faces were beet red as the group groan and nodded in consensus. 

“Great, thanks guys,” Spot grumbled, receiving a light shove from Race. 

“Ignore them, I’m happy for you guys,” Sarah spoke up from the kitchen earning both boys a shy smile. 

“Yeah, that’s gotta’ help lift your spirits a little, Racer,” Albert remarked from the floor in front of the couch. He looked hurt, glaring at the other as Race’s smile fell. 

“Allie, I-“

“Don’t worry about it, I’s sure you’s just the same, I guess I jus’ really thought this was the part for me,” he admitted sadly, a fake smile on his face that they all saw through immediately. 

“Actually, I, uh…,” Race trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away from the group. 

Spot grabbed his shoulder and leaned close to him, whispering into his ear, “Tell ‘em, Tony. They’s gonna’ be happy for you’s.”

Race nodded and looked back up to his friends. 

“I got it. I got the part.”

He spoke so shyly and self-consciously but the moment the words sank in, his friends were cheering and squealing and rushing to hug him tightly as if they weren’t just barely awake a few seconds ago. He reached through the overwhelming group hug of support from his friends and found Spot’s hand, holding it tightly as he returned to his friends and finally felt like he had something good going.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for all the reads/kudos/comments! y'all mean the world to me and seeing your feedback makes me so happy so thank you for that!
> 
> i'm basically done with all of the requests i have on tumblr so if anyone would like me to write anything, you can hmu @tony-higgins there, or just comment on one of my works, i will always reply and, if it's something i'm comfortable writing, i will always write your prompts!


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